Front Towards Enemy

Couple pics...

Hit up the range... yesterday... afternoon (I miss sleep...)

Got some fairly decent pics.  More after the jump.

RIPR

Defense Review posted an article about the Reset RIPR (Rifle Integrated Power Rail), and SSD and The Firearm Blog both briefly touched on the subject.  So I though I'd toss up my first thoughts on the concept.

Right off the bat I'll just say it.  I'm not a fan.  At least not the current configuration. (Although I'm not really a huge fan of the concept in general either...)

The first problem in my mind, and the issue with the concept, is that you're putting all of your electronic eggs in one basket.  You loose your battery power, and you don't just loose your red-dot.  You loose your red-dot, flashlights, IR laser, iPod, and whatever else you have hooked on there.  I feel you're much better off simply keeping a common battery type for all your devices (that's one of the reasons I run an EoTech XPS on my carbine, 123A batteries just like my white light.)  It's nice to see DR agrees with that sentiment.

My other big issue is simply one with the current iteration of the system.  It's adding bulk to the weapon as a trade off for one single battery, and it's a pretty big battery.  The XPS is still the same size, just with an adapter plug jammed in the battery compartment (for all I know, can't see the other side to tell.)  Add to that the proprietary rail that clamps on to your rail... I doubt you're saving any weight by cutting the standard batteries from your electronics.

The way I have Sigtyr set up right now I have 6 spare 123A batteries on board (in the Magpul ACS,) enough to swap out all the batteries in my electronics twice.  I'm going to be out of ammo well before I'm out of power, and I don't have something the size and weight of a loaded 20 round mag leaching onto the side of my upper. I just have little sadle compartments on my stock that make for a kick-ass cheek weld.

Battle Comp 1.0 Review - part II

(First bit here, with a video)

Second trip, if anything it felt even better.  Warmed up with the .22s, and having an extra set of hands there to take pictures is always nice.  Dumped a mag worth of controlled pairs downrange as fast as I could with Dan snapping away, and very little pause between pairs.  Recoil was pretty much straight back and the muzzle was easy to control.

Here's the money shot, first case hanging out in the air, second just coming out of the ejection port:

Battle Comp 1.0 Review

Well, first impressions and whatnot.  After busting it out of the box late last night, I was quite impressed.  the device is cleanly machined, the finish is nice and even, and overall I felt it was worth the price of admission.  I went with the matte stainless finish, I felt it would help break up the colors of my carbine a little more, and would be a bit more photogenic as time goes by.

More (including short video!) after the jump-

The wait... it can be hard.

Matte Stainless BattleComp and Spikes ST-T2 Heavy Buffer in route.  Gonna need more ammo... lots more ammo...

Impromptu Range Trip

Cro called to let me know he was heading to the range, so I threw some ammo in my range bag and headed out to meet him and one of his coworkers.  Here's some choice pics(more after the jump.)  Aside from the disgusting humidity and mosquitos, it was a good time.  Anyway, pics(as always, click to make full size):

Broke mah bolt.

Busted a bolt in my mid-length tonight.  Sheared off the two locking lugs closest to the extractor.  I've put about 1,000 rounds through it, mainly Wolf, so I'm sure the steel haters will blame that.  My uneducated eyes say it's a fault in the metal though, as those are no doubt the weakest lugs on an AR bolt, and the way they sheared just seems too uniform.

Thankfully my MOE grip has the spare bolt core, so I wasn't boned for the night.  Dan said I took it quite well, just kind of a "Huh. That sucks." and tossed in the spare bolt.  Good idea to have a spare on hand.

Will I keep shooting Wolf?  Yeah.  I've got a bunch of it, and my A2 has had a bunch more through it with no issues.  I'll probably end up getting a slightly higher end bolt to swap in there though.  Chrome plated and MP tested might be a good idea...

Daily Picness

More on yesterday's range trip.

So on top of putting the new 22 through it's paces, we also had the mission of testing out some things with the full size ARs. Nothing major, but I'm feeling proud of myself, so I'ma brag a little.

First off, and the most pressing thing on my mind for most of this last week was making sure Will's AR worked. I did some work on it for him the last couple weeks, including installation of the excellent ASAP (Ambidextrous Sling Attachment Point) from Magpul and a new gas block, in the form of a flip up front sight assembly from Yankee Hill Machine.

I have a YHM block just like it on my middy, and find it to be a perfectly acceptable BUIS. It accepts standard AR front sight post, and adjusts just like any standard AR front sight. My only complaint is the button to unlock and lower the sight tower is tough to get to with how I have my light mounted on my rifle. Not YHM's fault, and I can live with it. I figure I'm not going to ever be in a hurry (read life or death situation) to lower the sight.

Anyway, I was a bit nervous to test out the rifle, as this was the first time I did any work on the top half of an AR. I was 99.9% sure I had it lined up right, but I don't have x-ray vision, so there was that slight possibility.

Well, she ran like a dream.

I did run 10 rounds through it quickly to make sure it was holding up and cycling fine before I passed it off to him, so if anything blew up, it would have been in my face. It was my handywork after all.

Anyway, he's quite happy with how it turned out, and very happy to not have a front sight post in his sight picture anymore.

On my end of things, Sigtyr is pretty much done. I have all the big things on there and setup how I want, and aside from some little things a different sling swivel on the handguard and perhaps a different light setup, it's effectively done.
The biggest changes since the last comprehensive look at the carbine are the ACS stock, EOTech XPS2-2, and the light.

I was reluctant to swap out the CTR for the ACS, I do like the look, feel, and weight of the CTR, but when I swapped out the Tango Down stubby for the AFG, I lost my battery storage. I have the bolt/firing pin core in the MOE grip, complete with a bolt, cam pin, firing pin, and two fp retaining pins, and really like that little insurance policy. So, grudgingly, I ordered an ACS stock, and set aside the CTR for when the Smith showed up. With the addition of the EOTech and the white light, spare batteries on the system were too good of an idea.

A side effect of the ACS is the improved cheek weld. It's not that big of a deal with irons, but with a raised electronic type system, like an EOTech or an Aimpoint, it's nice to have a bit more bulk there. Also it's kind of nice to have a bore snake on board too.

A Viking Tactics offset light mount and Surefire G2 were tossed on the front, since zombies don't always attack in the day time. The only complaint (other than the earlier one about the front site) is that what VTac calls "OD" green is much closer to foliage green. I can live with it, but Will says I need to change it. He's definitely more vain than I am. (And at times obviously a Lieutenant)

Then of course came the EOTech. I decided to spend the extra cash on the XPS series, so I only had to keep one type of battery on the rifle. (Both the Surefire and the XPS use CR123A batteries) With the ACS that gives me enough spare batteries to swap out both electronics twice. (2 for the light, 1 for the sight, twice equals 6) I know AAs are easier to find, and an EOTech 512 would have been cheaper, but I like simplicity.

I also opted for the two dot reticle on the EOTech, at first because I like the range compensation ability, and I am a rifleman at heart. Some people don't like how "busy" the multi-dot reticles are, but now that I've had time to play around with it, the similarity between the standard post in a ring sight picture of the irons that I have used for years on issued M16s and the "donut and dots" of the EOTech are quite similar to me. When the excrement hits the rotating air circulator," the instinctiveness of that "post in a ring," steel or glowing red, should be good for me.

Smith & Wesson M&P15-22

Had it at the range for the first time yesterday, and here's how things went.
Out of 175 rounds of Winchester Xpert .22lr bulk pack ammo, there were 3 failures to fire. Not bad at all for bulk .22lr. There were no failures to feed or eject, as long as you make sure to stagger the rounds in the mag (as seen here) there should be minimal feed issues.

Informal accuracy tests (monopoding off the magazine from the bench... forgot the sandbag) resulted in about 1 1/2" 5 shot groups at 50 yards. I expect some decent optics and a real rest should cut that down a little, but it is more than acceptable for carbine training and general plinking purposes.

The similarity in controls between a full size AR and the little made for simple immediate action when the gun failed to go bang.



Shooting buddy Will liked it as well. I foresee this little gun breaking in a few new shooters in the coming years. Light weight, manageable, and intuitive. No scary BANG! or hard recoil.



On that note, as far as the weight and the recoil go, at first the extreme light weight of the little rifle seem like it may be an issue. It feels about 1/3 the weight of Sigtyr, and switching from the Smith back to the "real" AR made you feel like you were hefting a howitzer or something.
I can see how some people would see this as a problem as far as training goes. It is a little snappier switching from target to target, especially with the AFG on there.

Light gun is light-


However I think the light weight makes the recoil a bit more noticeable. You could add weight inside the buffer tube and possibly under the handguard and beef it up a little, but that would reduce felt recoil, and if it were similar in weight to a 5.56 mid-length, I doubt there would be much, if any, felt recoil. While this could be ideal for new shooters, for a training tool, I'd rather have a bit of muzzle jump and notable recoil. Plus at it's current setup you can feel the difference between a regular shot, and bolt lock, much like you can on a full size AR.

That's right, I said bolt lock. Some people I've talked to still don't know that the M&P15-22 does in fact lock open on an empty mag and has a fully functional ping-pong paddle in roughly the same place as a standard AR. I say "roughly" as it is a little farther forward than normal, a little under 1/4" maybe, which isn't noticeable until you try to mount a Magpul B.A.D. lever. That requires some material removal from the front of the trigger housing. Worth doing in my case, as I have a B.A.D. lever on my full-size carbine, so reloading my little one is identical, and as pictured above, remedial actions are quite similar. However if you're not running a bolt assist lever of some sort, most operations will be the same as your AR out of the box. Like pretty much all .22lr ARs out there, there is no forward assist. Fine by me, I rarely use them anyway, and, in my opinion, they would be a potential hazard on a rimfire. (can you say out-of-battery detonation?)

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the little rifle. So far it seems more reliable than the GSG5 (way to curse it...) and a much more viable training option than my 10/22. Smith & Wesson definitely have a winner in this little carbine.

Now back to daydreams of cans...

Mini-Sigtyr

Finally have the silly thing in my hands. A standard Smith & Wesson M&P15-22, naked barrel and all. There was also some material removal required in the trigger guard area to get the BAD lever to fit, but I knew that ahead of time. Of course there were a few other parts swapped as soon as I got it home, and I'm still debating what to do with the pistol grip and what to do for optics.

On to the pictures and whatnot. Here it is with the full size.

As you can see, it's a little shorter. The length of pull is set the same, but as with all the dedicated .22lr platforms, the barrel comes back into the upper more than on a 5.56, so it looks shorter. As I said, the LOP is about the same, and the AFGs are the same distance out as well.

Here's the bolt assembly-

The bolt travels along the two rails, the black chunk in back acts as a polymer buffer, and the recoil spring guide easily comes out and allows the recoil spring to launch clear to the dining room.

Bolt face-

Pretty straight forward. Extractor on your left there, firing pin up at the top of the case notch area. You can also see how the rails are sitting at 7 and 2, which kinda messes with your head when you shotgun the rifle and look at the back end. You'll also notice the lack of an ejector.

That's because it's here-

It's connected to the back end of the barrel, which is a pretty simple solution to keeping the lower receiver from getting too cluttered.

So far, the only thing I'm really iffy on, is the charging handle.

It's plastic, and not at all near the size of a 5.56 one. Did I mention it's plastic? I think I'm going to contact S&W and find out about scoring a spare just in case. I might also send an email to BCM voicing interest in a 15-22 Gunfighter. I know I'm not the only one. (Scroll down a little bit, Optimus is my handle over there)

Overall, I think the wait was worth it, especially given the price (S&W gave me a Vet. discount, and my FFL takes care of service members). Hopefully it shoots as good as it looks, and the weight difference doesn't throw me off too much switching from the "little" one to the "full size" one. I've got a nice stack of magazines too, so my stash of .22lr bulk packs should start shrinking pretty soon. That is, assuming global warming ever kicks in and the glaciers retreat from the range.

This post brought to you by awesome carpets and New Glarus Totally Naked.

Upgrade pron

Got an Eotech to put on the carbine today. Looks pretty sexy.



Tried to take a picture of the reticle, and apparently laser generated holograms really freak out my camera. Any idea why it does this?



I've also added a FDE Magpul AFG, and will be swapping the CTR for an ACS when that shows up. I'll get some new pictures when there's actually a sun out so I can get some good ones.

Daily Pic

B.A.D.a$$

Got one for the carbine. I'll put up a more in depth review when I get out to the range, a long with my thoughts on the MS2.

Safe

Sigtyr

So the bulk of the little carbine is pretty much finished. Here's a list of features and whatnot.

-DPMS lower receiver

-Del-ton top end with a DTI 16" 1:9 barrel (5.56 chamber), mid-length gas system

-YHM Diamond series free float 4 rail handguard

-YHM flip up gas block

-YHM Phantom 5C2 flash hider

-Magpul MBUS rear sight

-Magpul XTR rail covers (FDE and OD)

-Magpul MOE grip and trigger guard

-Magpul CTR stock

-Magpul ASAP sling plate

-KNS anti-rotation pins

-Tangodown stubby vert. grip

There's a sling on the way, as well as plans to pick up an Eotech XPS sometime in the next few months.

Should have more in depth pictures and a review up sometime in the future.

'Nother one.

Teaser pick

more to come later

Sigtyr update

Grip showed up. Also got an ASAP from Magpul, but can't really put it on without the buffer tube. Stupid high demand...